


Trial of Ozai

by Homerthe27



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang does his best, Avatar Cycle, Avatar Politics (Avatar), Bending (Avatar), Fire, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fire Nation politics, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Firelord duties, Gen, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Political, Politics, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, will update tag as chapters come up, you are not immune to properganda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25024282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homerthe27/pseuds/Homerthe27
Summary: Aang has defeated Ozai and Zuko has defeated Azula. But what now? In the eyes of the Fire nation, Ozai is still the Firelord, and Zuko is still seen as a banished prince. Something has to happen to convince the world otherwise.
Relationships: Aang & The Fire Nation, Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & The Fire Nation (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 85





	Trial of Ozai

"Leave the nicknames to us sweetie"

Was the last words said before the comet passed through the sky and disappeared into the atmosphere. Ozai, the Pheonix king, had barely any strength left, all his power his bending was gone. That wretched child must have taken some of his wills as well, during the process. The Avatar, that child whatever he did Ozai didn't have the strength to get up on his own two feet, and that earth kingdom brat had to bend a special little cell for him and slid him into the airship and place somewhere on the stolen airship. Ozai didn't know much of what else had happened, he zoned in and out of continuous for a while. Until at some point all the children had gathered in front of him. From the look of things, he was at the helm of the ship.

"All right, all of the other crewmen have rounded up, and we are ready to take off" The one girl, dressed in fire nations garnets.

"Yeah, we did it" A loud voice entered the room, the water tribe boy, came hopping into Ozai's views "We defeated the nation and ended the war! I am so happy I can almost cry"

"You have already cried" The young earthbender joked "Why should you stop now?"

"Now see here Toph" The girl stepped in. "I have quite the... wait I mean"

"You want to rephrase that statement." the earthbender asked.

"I think I am done talking for the day," The girl told her.

the Avatar came into view of Ozai. His clothes were still destroyed from their battle so the Avatar only war the garments around his waist. Ozai gnarled at the boy, the one singular person who had defeated and outwitted him. He has no right to walk around high and might when he, the phoenix king felt low and helpless. "There he is, There is the man of the hour" The water tribe boy exclaimed.

"Thanks, Sokka," The avatar told him."I kinda want to know what the plan is?"

The water tribe boy looked at the other two companions in the room. "What do you mean?"

The boy shrugged "I mean I defeated the Firelord, but that's kind of been the main focus of the past couple of months."

_'months?'_

"But what do we do with him?" The young Airbender gestured to the defeated Firelord. "Do we turn him into the Earth King to stand trial? To show that the Fire Nation is no longer a threat."

"That's right you kinda disappeared for a couple of days there" The brown-haired girl replied to the Avatar. "You see we actually..."

"Are more foolish than I thought!" A voice echoed through the chamber.

All the kids in the room jumped, and turned towards Ozai, they had forgotten that he was in the room. Ozai could not believe the rubbish behavior that was going on before him.

"Do you honestly believe that just because you bested me and taken my bending that you have defeated my nation? Or that this war is over?"

"I mean kinda," The water tribe boy told him. "Though your tone is making me kinda nervous."

These kids were really idiots. Did they not think that Azula was waiting for them, that his perfect daughter would not continue the honor of the fire nation in his name, then they are sorely mistaken. There is nothing they can do to truly stop him now. He had ensured his legacy for another hundred years.

"You fools no matter what you do the new Firelord will stop at nothing to hunt you down. Not unlike my failure of a son." Ozai snarled at the children. "As you know I bred Azula to be my equal in both ferocity and cunning. You fool, your battle had just begun."

Ozai's notice the face on the Avatar started to pale as the realization dawned on him. "What Azula is the new Firelord?" He exclaimed, "That can't be good."

 _'Yes, young avatar trembles in fear. You know nothing about what is to come for you. This is just the ... beginning'_ Ozai thoughts trailed off.

"I guess I have to be ready to fight two Firelord's today," said the tattooed boy, giving out a big yawn and started bouncing up and down to get himself hyped up. "Guess I will go for 2-0"

"What?" Even with his declaration of intent, the other four children in the room seemed noticeably calm, in fact, the water tribe peasant smile just gleamed harder. None of them were terrified or even that afraid about their new situation. Even the avatar was not as fearful as he originally appeared.

"Yeah, I mean last time we all fought her together, she surrendered anyway," The earth bender said smacking her fists together. "And we are all 100percent more awesome than last time. So even with her dai lee agents, we will still kick her royal but"

Okay, not the response Ozai was looking for. They seemed to greatly underestimate what was before them, but that didn't seem to matter. Azula always won her battles, one way or another. They knew this, so why are they so calm?

"That won't be necessary toph" The water tribe boy stated, "We already have a plan for Azula, remember"

"Oh, I know I am just saying if Sparky and Katara couldn't finish the job at their end," The earth kingdom told him, smashing her hands together. "At least we will have some fun"

"What are you talking about?" The avatar asked. Ozai himself is wondering what is going on. Did they try to intercept Azula, or some other vain attempt to grab victory?

"You know what," The water tribe boy said with such positivity it made Ozai want to vomit again. "Its a surprise, full speed to the fire nation!"

"Come again?"

"Excuse me?"

Both Ozai and the Avatar were extremely confused. 'Why would they go to the fire nation' that would be the last place they should bring him, after all, he still ruled it. But before he could think about it anymore the former Firelord, drifted back to sleep. Some time had passed because when he awoke it was not in the early hours of the mourning. "Come on Lazy lord" he heard shouted and suddenly he was dragged along by his earth cuts to the docking bay of warship.

He looked out the window, and much to his surprise he was right above the Fire Nation capital. _'What was he doing there'_

Then with a slow rock, they landed. The door for the ship opened, and the avatar and his group lead Ozai pulling him by his earthly restraints. Mourning light shown through the metal doors blinding the fallen Firelord as he entered his nation. When his eyes adjusted, he came to a bay all lined up with fire nation soldiers. Elite troopers who were all loyal to him the phoenix king.

"The avatar is here!" Ozai shouted to his minions "Quickly capture them"

Immediately the guards surrounded the group of children, who immediately took to a fighting stance.

A group of elite fire nation soldiers surrounded the delinquents. The children took their stances, staring into the sockets of Ozai's elite warriors. The comet may be over, but the children would still have to fight for their lives. The Avatar and the earth brat all took up their stances, ready to go all ou. The water tribe boy, raised his crutch in a defiance pose almost falling over in the process being caught by the other girl with them.

Flames rose from the tips of the elite guard. Shadows echoed across their monkey helmets, waiting for the moment to strike and reuse their rightful ruler.

Then with a powerful stroke, ten fireballs came straight at them. Immediately they were sunk into the ground, thanks to no doubt the earth brat. Another group attacked from the left, the avatar rant tword them, slid underneath one of them popping out behind them and striking them upward with a powerful airbending blast knocking them all up ten feet in the air, and landing down on another group of soldiers.

Another battalion came at the other girl in fire nation clothing instead of being burnt to crips she moved and waved her away from her attacks and slammed their faces into the pavements at every given opportunity. Beside her, the Water tribe guy kept yelling nonsensical one-liners. The favorite among them was calling them 'fire jerks!'

In the middle of the battle, a voice called out. "STOP!"

The commanding voice echoed throughout the field. Every head in the pathway looked up. On the hilltop, the fire sages had gathered and started walking down. Ozai was confused by this development, they had no business here in battle. The fire sages answer directly to the fire lord, and Ozai couldn't see any angle on why Azula send them down.

"High Sage Ruk!" Ozai demanded, "What is the meaning of this? These are enemies of the state!"

"Apologies Lord Ozai," the head sage told him them with a stern face "That is no longer the case"

The avatar landed, next to both between the former Firelord and the high sage. "It's not? What gives?"

Behind him, Ozai could hear the water tribe boy and the blind women snicker. Ozai didn't get it what was so funny?

He then turned to the surrounding fire nation soldiers, "By decree of our new Firelord. The Avatar and his associates have been given a full pardon"

Ozai was stunned. 'Is this some sort of coup?' he thought. Azula would never have done this. She would never take on her father like this? Ozai was the one person that Azula would never betray, he made sure of that.

"What are you talking about!?" Ozai demanded, getting straight to Ruk's face. The man had no backbone, other than the one that one Ozai had supplied him. Ozai had given this meek man everything. Yet here he is going against him.

"Azula would never go against me" Ozai shouted. "What game are you playing here?"

"The endgame Father"

The sea of fire sages parted ways. And from it stood out Zuko, Ozai's weak-willed son.

"Zuko!" Ozai and the Avatar said at the same time, though the former was much happier in the surprise. He rushed over and gave Zuko a hug, while Ozai was left dumbfounded. "Where is Azula?"

"The infirmary," Zuko told him a smirk forming on his charred face, "Currently resting up after a vicious Agni Kai."

"It was one for the history books my lord" Ruk told him with a slight bow.

"Lord?" the avatar asked "Wait, does that mean. That your.."

"Yes father," Zuko addressed him. "Azula challenged me to an Agni Kai for the throne. She lost. Thus making me"

"Firelord" When Ozai said these words, he was filled with a new kind of emotion. A certain sense of dread and anger. This couldn't be possible. Azula was the perfect firebender, the perfect warrior his perfect tool. She would never have fallen to the likes of Zuko. The boy could barely create a spark, and couldn't even perform a blast of cold fire.

"Of all the pathetic errors you have made" Ozai gnarled in a last attempt to deface his son. "You expect me to believe that _You_ beat Azula?" He looked down and saw the burn mark that covered his son's chest. He smirked, he found a way to end this failure of a Coup before it could begin. "I can see the scar, she left you. She bested you I can tell"

"Actually," Ruk told him. "Lord's Zuko firebending had outclassed Azula. The princess was unhinged when she realized that she had no choice in winning she attacked a bystander, one of the greatest Taboos of the sport. I have never seen such an act of dishonor"

Murmurs had started to be swayed behind him. Ozai dread came back if word gets out about how dishonorable Azula had been in an Agni Kai. It would destroy the perfect image that he had been building up for her. This was bad, really bad. Azula's public image was something he worked years on trying to craft.

"Lord Zuko here saved her life. By taking on the blast himself he had not only acted honorably but he won the duel." He continued. "He is the true victor and because of it. Our future Firelord."

Ozai's dread slowly turned to anger. Everything that had happened in the past couple of hours had been gnawing at him. His destiny, his plans his life's work was now all falling down on him. He glared at Zuko, how dare he. His own spawn, he was nothing. A weak traitorous fool who turned his back on his people, and he returns now as to what? Their savior? Had joining with the Avatar did so much for that brat.

"And as my first unofficial act of Firelord" Zuko, turned and addressed the avatar. His son gave a small smile and gave the avatar a slight bow."I welcome you to the fire nation Avatar Aang."

Zuko then turned to his father, and his face soured. "And you Ozai, you along the rest of our family were hellbent to destroy the balance of this world. You threw away countless lives for a false promise of honor. Including that of the fire nation"

Ozai, anger boiled to new heights. _How dare he_?

"You are under arrest for your crimes against the world. And for the potential slaughter of countless Fire Nation citizens" Zuko declared."Ozai, as of this moment you are stripped from any land and title that you once had. You are no longer a member of fire nation royalty"

Ozai lost all sense of self at this point. He forgot about the outcome of his match with the Avatar just a couple of years ago. He had forgotten that he no longer had the ability to fire bend. All he saw was red, and wanting to finish off his son's face. Quickly he broke out of his earth cuff, and before Zuko or the others had time to react he started to generate, what he thought, was lightning.

Ozai roar, quickly deteriorated when his fingers didn't zap off Zuko's face. Before Ozai knew it, the world once again became dark and he hit his head on the ground.

* * *

"Well that happened"

Zuko didn't know what to do when his father collapsed on the ground. Zuko was ready to redirect whatever energy came his way, but Ozai was to fast. For a brief second, it looked like it was going to be the end of him. Then it wasn't and his father is now drooling on the concrete floor. Everyone else around them was confused. No one, not the fire nation troops or the fire sages that surrounded him just stared at their god-king as he lied on the ground drooling like a child.

He looked at Aang, and the others in a confused look. Toph immediately rectified by putting his father back into earth restraints and throwing him over his shoulder. "So are we moving on or what?"

Zuko blinked, bringing his mind back to reality. "Yes, of course...follow me"

Then he and the other gang of misfits then preceded to walk back up the hill. If the other soldiers had any problem with what they were doing they never expressed it. Some still tried to apprehend the Avatar and his father, both were reprimanded with an airbending strike from Aang or breath of fire from Zuko. The later stiffened any acts of braver on the fire nation soldier's behalf. Zuko had shown the sign of a Dragon, and that earned their respect or progressed their incentive to be silent. They made their way into a fire nation carriage that would take Ozai to a secure holding facility when Ruk pulled him aside.

"You told me he was going to be dead!" He exclaimed. "You said that the Avatar would kill Ozai!"

"I thought so too" Zuko whispered harshly to the old man. "I knew Aang was hesitant on taking action against my father but I didn't think he would stand by it."

Ruk shuttered at this whole situation. The composure he had held through the entirety of his confrontation with his father was failing, his weak side was starting to show. He did not decide to recognize Zuko as Firelord lightly. Ozai had used him as a puppet for as long as Zuko had known him and Ruk only sided against Ozai because Azula was out of the way and Ozai might have been killed by Aang.

"This is going to be a lot harder than we thought" the old man exclaimed through bits of shuddering. "Now that he is still alive it would be harder to get the rest of the public on your side."

"I know" Zuko, was well aware of the risks. Ozai was 'loved' by the citizens of the fire nation, Azula was worshipped as a goddess-like figure. Zuko was not nearly as liked as either of them, to most he was a banished-traitorous prince, and even before all that was never revered to the degree that his sister was. Getting the public to accept him as Firelord was always going to be an uphill battle but, now things were about to get harder.

"We will stick to the original plan," Zuko told his new advisor. "I will travel with Aang to the capital, and learn the specifics of what he did to my father"

Zuko looked and saw the shrunken remains of the world's strongest firebender, now unconscious and could barely have the energy to stay awake. "In the meantime, I will have him stashed away somewhere. Far from the eyes of those still loyal to him"

Ruk nodded, "The fire sage's temple would work." He told the prince. "None of the sages would dare go against me. He will be safe there".

Zuko agreed with him, he gave the old sage a small bow and he and the other sages headed off back to the temple. Zuko exhaled, both of them are on thin ice now. Ruk knows this as much as Zuko, that both their heads were on the line now.

The future Firelord got into his carriage and rode off back to his royal palace. Wondering what the next course of action should be.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Avatar, I love Zuko and I love Aangs decision not to kill Ozai. Though I wanted to see Zuko's and Katara's reaction to Aang energy bending, and not killing him. Also, I want to see the world's reaction to Zuko being Firelord. Then I decided why not have both and I wrote this fic.
> 
> Now, I don't think this is going to be too long. Like First Words, it's going to have 3 or 4 chapters as I don't want to write yet another long drawn out story. The story will end with Zuko's coronation, with some twists and turns along the way.


End file.
